DeMarcus Cousins bullied the Portland Trail Blazers all over the court, his teammates splashed three-pointers to keep the defense honest and the shorthanded New Orleans Pelicans came away with a road victory.

The Pelicans (12-11) were without All-Star big man Anthony Davis, who missed the game with a pelvis injury he suffered Friday night. Davis was spotted pregame using crutches to make his way through the back hallways of the arena, but even without one of their star big men the Pelicans still pulled out a win.

Cousins had his way with any defender the Blazers tried to put on, alternating between pushing around Jusuf Nurkic, Ed Davis or Meyers Leonard. New Orleans mad 13 of their first 21 three-pointers before finishing 15-for-31 from deep.

The Blazers (13-10) have lost two straight games in the Moda Center to fall to 7-6 at home this season.

TOP PERFORMERS

Damian Lillard had 29 points and eight assists, Shabazz Napier added 15 points and seven rebounds off the bench and two nights after hearing boos from the home crowd, Meyers Leonard had his best game of the season finishing with 17 points on 7-for-9 shooting.

But Portland didn't get enough from its two other stars as CJ McCollum started 2-for-12 from the floor and finished with 17 points while Jusuf Nurkic had with eight points and four rebounds.

E'Twaun Moore hit four three-pointers and finished with 19 points for New Orleans. Jrue Holiday added 17 points, seven assists and five rebounds and Rajon Rondo had 12 points and 10 assists.

IT WAS OVER WHEN

Holiday knifed into the paint for a layup with 1:40 remaining and the Blazers threatening to mount a comeback. His basket at the rim put New Orleans up 118-107 and thwarted Portland's chances for late-game heroics.

THEY SAID IT

"Maybe we think we're good enough to kinda mess around," Nurkic said. "And then life come hard at you when you figure out you're not that good and you can't turn it on anytime you want. You need to play 48 minutes to win the game. Obviously, we didn't tonight and we didn't last game."

TURNING POINT

The Blazers were awful closing out quarters in the first half, letting an 14-point lead evaporate at the end of the first quarter when the Pelicans closed the period on a 9-2 run. Then in the second quarter, New Orleans went on an run 8-0 in the final 1:38 before halftime to take a three-point lead into the locker room.

The Pelicans ripped off a 23-8 surge to open the third seizing control for good. In those three bursts, they effectively ended Portland's chances.

"We didn't finish the first quarter," Blazers coach Terry Stotts said. "We didn't finish the second quarter, we didn't start off the third quarter and that was pretty much the game."

THIRD QUARTER CHAOS

Things got out of control in a hurry midway through the third quarter. First, Meyers Leonard was called for a flagrant foul for catching Cousins in the head while attempting to block his shot inside.

Then on the ensuing play, Stotts was called for a technical foul while arguing what a foul call that he thought should have been travel on Cousins.

On the very next trip down the floor, Pelicans point guard Jameer Nelson was issued a flagrant foul for catching Leonard in the head on a shot attempt that Leonard flipped up and in while his back was to the rim.

After the video reviews and foul shooting ended, the Pelicans still led by double digits.

NEXT UP

The Blazers have two days off before facing the Washington Wizards Tuesday night at the Moda Center with tip off set for 7 p.m.